Bolling Named Chair Of National LG Association

Jul. 30, 2009

Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling today was elected by a unanimous, bi-partisan vote Chairman of the National Lieutenant Governors Association at that organization's annual meeting in Baltimore, Md. Bolling previously served as Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the NLGA, and also serves on its executive committee. In a statement, he said:

I am honored that my colleagues from across the country have asked me to serve as Chairman of NLGA for the next year. I look forward to working with them to build on the successes of the NLGA and help build bi-partisan consensus around realistic and workable solutions to the challenges facing our states and our nation.

I pass the gavel to Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling with complete confidence that his leadership will keep up on the path to progress by every measure.

The praise also came from Julia Hurst, the NLGA Executive Director:

Lieutenant Governor Bolling's peers from both parties and various regions of the country selected him to serve as their national chair. He has been a leader in helping advance the mission of NLGA over the past four years, and he has earned their confidence and trust.

We congratulate Lieutenant Governor Bolling on the honor and are sure he will represent the commonwealth and the nation very well on the national stage.

Perfect Timing

May. 07, 2008

One of our highest priorities this past General Assembly session was HB 1135, which protects religious liberty in education. The bill was patroned by Delegate William Fralin (R-17, Roanoke) and it passed easily, including a 39-1 vote in the Senate. Governor Tim Kaine made a minor amendment which was approved during the veto session last month. The bill takes effect July 1. This victory, along with one of our highest priorities for the 2007 session, a religious liberty bill protecting religious expression in public venues, patroned by Delegate Scott Lingamfelter (R-31, Woodbridge), which also was signed into law, make significant progress toward protecting our constitutional rights from their erosion by authoritarian educrats and activist judges.
I know, I know. We're extremists and alarmists with such hyperbole. At least that's what the usual suspects always claim. Okay. So is this recent case in Wisconsin hyperbole?

Funny, no one ever taught me the Constitution ended at the school door. I'm pretty sure Mr. Madison would be appalled. HB 1135 specifically defends students' rights to include religious content in academic assignments. Not only that, it brings the code of Virginia in line with United States Supreme Court precedent — not to mention the intent of the Founders. The language for the new law was borrowed from federal guidelines for religious liberty in schools and modeled after a recently passed law in Texas. Virginia public schools currently use religious liberty guidelines developed more than a decade ago by then Attorney General James Gilmore. Since that time, the Supreme Court has clarified the rights of students to express their faith in the classroom.

This recent Wisconsin situation, which has stirred up passionate feelings judging by the dozens of responses on the thread of the article linked above, isn't just a product of an over zealous and misguided teacher, something "that would never happen here." The actual need for the legislation arose after several incidents of students having their religious viewpoint rights violated — here in Virginia! Just this school year, a first grade student in a public school was denied the right to read a story to her class simply because it contained the word "God."

Such incidents happen far too often and many go unreported. The law was necessary because teachers and administrators ignore Supreme Court precedent, federal guidelines and guidelines by the Commonwealth's attorney general. Still think "authoritarian educrat" is hyperbole? Activist judges have done their part as well, making it difficult to remedy these problems through legislation. That's changed now.

This new law, the one last year, and the precedents and legal opinions, while they received little media attention, provide an unassailable legal foundation toward returning our Commonwealth to its rightful place as a beacon of religious freedom for the rest of the nation. Given the recent abuse of constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom in Wisconsin, could the enactment of HB 1135 had better timing?